Solar decisions still on hold in Lunenburg

LUNENBURG -- Selectmen have yet to make any more decisions on the future of three large-scale solar projects looking to come into town because of a lack of documents from the respective developers.

Two of the developers -- one on Electric Avenue and one on Chase Road -- have received special permits from the Planning Board to construct their projects on their respective sites, but are still hammering out the kinks with power-purchase and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, agreements.

The third project, anticipated to be on the town's landfill, has stalled, and selectmen must make a decision about whether they will continue to pursue the project.

Selectmen already voted to enter into a power-purchase agreement with Maryland-based EPG Solar. By doing this, the town agrees to buy net-metering credits from EPG, but has yet to decide if it will purchase credits from a separate developer, and if so, how many.

In November, selectmen and Florida-based MASS PV1 tentatively agreed to a power-purchase agreement pending final approval of the plan, but since then, the board has not seen anything else from the company.

The developers' plans for credit prices have come in at different prices.

In EPG's case, the value of the credit is $0.181 per kilowatt hour, and the initial credit-purchase price is $0.1132, a savings of $0.0679 per kilowatt hour. The credit-purchase price would increase 1.8 percent every year, and the annual savings in year one per megawatt is $67,800, or 37.

Advertisement

5 percent. The total savings to the town, if the full two megawatts are purchased in year one, is $135,600.

In the case of MASS PV1, the value of the credits would be $0.181 per kilowatt hour, and the initial credit-purchase price is $0.09, a savings of $0.091 per kilowatt hour. The credit-purchase price would increase 2.5 percent annually. The annual savings per megawatt in the first year would be $91,000, or 50.3 percent. The total savings to the town if the full two megawatts are purchased in year one is $182,000.

Scott Fenton, an attorney in Worcester representing MASS PV1, previously told selectmen his client would build a half-megawatt facility on a commercially zoned property on Chase Road. Selectmen agreed to purchase the credits on that project, Town Manager Kerry Speidel said Monday afternoon.

The company would still develop the project on the residential land, and the town has until the middle of next month to decide if it wants to purchase those credits. If not, they could be sold to other Unitil communities in Massachusetts.

Fenton said that for his client to execute a purchase-and-sales agreement with the landowner, both the power-purchase agreement and PILOT must be signed by selectmen.

To date, the town has not reviewed any PILOT agreement from MASS PV1.

Speidel said representatives from EPG Solar are still working with the owners of the Twin City Baptist Church, which owns the property the developer would lease, about who is responsible for the taxes on the property. The company has not submitted its PILOT either.

"Both EPG and Twin City would be a party to the PILOT, so until the land lease is finalized, neither will sign the PILOT," Speidel said, adding that EPG is obligated to build the project by May 31.

Speidel said the town has been working with Borrego Solar for well over a year to bring a project to the town's landfill, but has yet to agree upon the scope of the project.

"Borrego is awaiting the findings of the Anti-Islanding Study from Unitil," she said. "The results of the study will determine whether or not the project is economically feasible. The study was supposed to have been available on Dec. 11, but has yet to be received. The town will need to decide whether or not it wants to continue to move forward with this project."

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.